Across the U.S. tonight from 5 pm to 10 pm local time, Baskin-Robbins is offering 31-cent ice cream scoops in many of its ice cream stores to honor American firefighers. Baskin-Robbins plans to donate $100,000 to the National Fallen Firefighters Association.

Anything with the words "ice cream" in it gets me to listen.

Like yesterday's Ben and Jerry's "free ice cream day" promotion, the Baskin-Robbins move is clearly meant to get new customers to start coming to its stores throughout the spring and summer.

I just want to point out a few ways the Web makes these promotions easier or harder to do.

Easier: It's so easy to spread the word nowadays, and customers have the tools to spread it quickly and easily. BUT ...

Harder: Your promotion has to be legitimate - otherwise the buzz will turn negative quickly and bury it. BUT ...

Easier: You can turn the tide back to positive buzz quickly as well, and even quell negative buzz before it can surge. BUT ...

Harder: Everybody and their hamster gets wind of these kinds of promotions every day, it seems. So you really have to make your stand out.

I could go on, but it's clear that the Web makes amplification easier for businesses looking to spread buzz through one-time promotions - and simultaneously makes the "needle in a haystack" problem emerge more readily.